HOW TO WRITE ABOUT CONTEMPORARY

Good art-writers break conventions, hold a few sacrosanct, innovate their own.

They measure their limits by instinct, not by rote. Mostly they learn byseeing miles of art, and reading good literature in bulk. There is nosubstitute, for a writer, for possessing a natural ear for language; a rich vocabulary; a fair for varied sentence structures; an original opinion; somearresting ideas to share.

Art in the 21stcentury-online and off-is experiencing aphenomenal boom, with the demand for written accompaniment raised tofever-pitch. Every role in the expanding art universe demands its own class ofart-copy.

As the reader swells and the need for communicative art-writingskyrockets, we noticed that-although some art-texts are well-informed,imaginatively written, and genuinely illuminating-much contemporary art-writingremains barely comprehensible.

If there is one single best reason to learn to write well about art, itis because good art deserves it.

*clear, well structured, and carefully worded.

*the text is imaginative, brimming with spicy vocabulary, and full oforiginal ideas, which are substantiated in their experience and knowledge ofart.

*they describe what the art is; explain plausibly what it may mean; andsuggest how this might connect to the world at large.

The market, sociology, personal reflection, philosophy, poetry, fiction,art history, and more. The finest art-writers enjoy their work; they love art,and their pleasure-emotional, intellectual, visual-multiples when writing aboutit. Good art-writers can enhance art’s complexity: clearheaded writing shouldnot be confused with oversimplification.

Intuition tells me that the most fertile new art-writing ground may bethat currently being charted at the fringes-such as art-related fiction both aboutart and behaving as art; or philosophy at the intersection of art andliterature.

Learning to draw takes practice(daily, if possible) ,and the gradualunderstanding that you must draw what you see, not what you think you see.Drawing is about understanding visual experience, not mechanical skill. The sameis true with art-writing. This requires practice(daily, if possible),andentails writing what you see, using the process of writing to understand art.

Begin by concentrating on the art. Help yourself by learning about howartists work and how art is seen. Keep your language varied, butstraightforward. Exert your imagination. Enjoy yourself, which curiosity. Learnas much as you can; write only you know.

“Art-criticism, like art, should furnish something more and better thanwe can expect from life without it. What might that be?”

make themrealto us.

Two basic functions: explaining and evaluating

Explaining:

put your personal prejudicesaside, and distill the most essential factual and interpretative informationthat you have researched.(includingaitist’s statements, verifiable background information,recognized themes orconcerns observed in the art.)

meant to assist anyone approaching the work.

Evaluating:

“having an opinion is part of your social contract with readers”

You need to gather accurateinformation, and then tell your reader what you think , and why.

You need to take a risk. This may entail posing astute questions, thenattempting to answer then-perhaps promoting further, more penetratingquestions.

The dividing line between explaining and evaluating is vital to graspbut, in practice,porous.

Supporters of avant-garde art across the 20th century also required new words:readymade,abstract art,minimalism,conceptual art,land art,time-based media.

Many cherish art as a special haven within an over-schematized world,where ambiguous can thrive.If an artwork;s message is self-evident,maybe it is just an illustration, a decorative non-entity,a well-executer craft object,hardly counting as"significant"art at all.

In this scenario,an art-writing is a conduit,possessing specialist information that enables her to link unfamiliar artworks to s curious audience and pin down an artwork's potential meanings.

This may partially  account for the permanent identity crisis suffered by the gallery press release-disparagingly described by artist Martha Rosler as 'a long-form piece of advertising copy,with embedded key words'

John Kelsey has suggested that art-ctitisism must invent 'new ways of making itself strange'.   Frances Stark(artist-writers) Charles Baudelaire (antecedent)"partial,passionate,political.  Greenburg

Many of her(Rosalind Krauss) generations set out to understand artworks not solely as  'developments' occupying their due place within an art-historical lineage based on form,style,and medium, but as objects able to possess multiple possibilities of meaning depending on chosen terms of interpretation.

It was proposed that the analysis of contemporary art might benefit from the tools offered by other fields,to include:structuralism, post-structuralism, postmodernism, post-colonialism, feminism, queer theory, gender theory, film theory, Marxist theory,psychoanalysis, anthropology, cultural studies, literary theory.

In truth, that 1970s/80s generation of 'new art historians ' helped revitalize a discipline sorely in need of updating.

" The aim of the critic is to see the object as in itself it really is not"

Innersed and articulate art-writers can support artists by elucidating or furthering their ideas,and act more as collaborates than external commentators.

Occupying almost the bottom economic tier of the art-industry pyramid,critics are least affected by cycles of boom and bust.

-Fear is the root of bad writing

These self-contradicting, hedged adjectives reflect a writer wracked with worry,unable to commit to a single descriptor,hiding behind the ambiguity of art to escape staking a position.

Be brave, look at the art,and train yourself to write simply,only about what you know.

Like writing about sex,verbalizing an art experience always verges on the overwritten embarrassment .No one excels art-writing from their earliest attempt.

In truth,that business about the text having 'nothing to do with the art but only with the writer's,actually,what art-writing is always,inevitably,about:its writer.

In every case,really know what you are writing about.

Keep it simple. omit needless words.(风格的要素）

Write first about artists whom you genuinely revere,the art you most believe in,so you don't have to fake it ,and if a work fails,say no with gusto.

As a rule,dial down any bloated and grandiose statements(like this art overtones all definitions of visual experience)

You can support art without prostrating yourself before it.

the first question might be:how much of my opinion is required here?

and:do I know enough to make my contribution worth reading? 

THREE JOBS:

All art-writers can concoct a written response to art(the easy part).Good writers show where that response came from,and convince of its validity.(the hard part:discussed in more detail in ‘How to substantiate your ideas.)

*what it is? (meaningful details,materials,Be selective)

 KEEP YOUR DESCRIPTION OF THE ART BRIEF AND BE SPECIFIC.

*what might this mean? weak writers will claim great meanings for artworks without tracing for the reader where these might originate materially in the work(1) or how they might connect to the viewers interest(3)

JOIN THE DOTS,EXPLAIN WHERE THIS MEANINGFUL IDEA IS OBSERVED IN THE ARTWORK ITSELF.

*why dose this matter to the world at large?(so what? good art:relatively modest)

KEEP IT REASONABLE AND TRACEABLE TO 1 AND 2.

'This is heady,speculative stuff,but Benjamin traces how his immense re-conceptualization of all history was launched by the little Klee figure floating before him'

Substantiation explains where your ideas came from:your reader feels illuminated by your words,not frustrated.

Substantiation turns watery art speak into wine.

*by providing factual or historical evidence: doing research, the backbone of academic writing and quality journalism.(pick your text clean of overblown or self-evident sentences)

*on the basis of visual evidence:extracting information from the artwork itself.

all artworks by one artist are not perfectly interchangeable,keep your eye fresh;look at artworks one by one.

"Picasso took junk and turned it into useful objects such as musical instruments;Duchamp took a useful stool and useful wheel and made them useless"

Sylvester succeeds by taking his reader step-by-step through his thinking(follow the logic of the writer's thoughts)

provide readers with all the steps in your thinking.

don't dance around art by writing in broad strokes and generic art-patois.

*be specific :add titles and dates, substantiate and visualize points.

*combine two fragments into a single coherent sentences

*drop messy adverbs and adverbial phrases(king of;sort of)

*avoid the passive and rewrite in the active tense

*do not presume what 'the viewer was expecting'

Avail yourself of visually rich language to help your reader imagine what happened in the gallery.

Do not explain a dense,abstract idea with another dense,abstract idea.

load your text with solid nouns. (just the sort of well-chosen,definite noun that brings art-writing alive)

use picture-making words when describing art (never assume your reader remembers or has seen the art;use abstractions sparingly,and insert meaty nouns instead)

less is more when it comes to adjectives (do not use too much one-size-fits-all adj like challenging,insightful,exciting,contextual)

use vigorous verbs.

logical order should be preserved at every level-a single sentence,a paragraph, a section, your whole text.

*follow chronological sequencing

*work from the general to the specific

*keep related terms or ideas close together 

avoid lists 

avoid jargon (specialized art terminology is not jargon)

find your own words;express your own ideas;lighten up

When in doubt ,tell a story (storytelling is an especially valuable tool when writing about time-based art, such as film and performances.)

When still in doubt, make a comparison. comparison seems the least-appetizing candy in the art-writer's chocolate-box.

**TURN OFF THE INTERNET AND IPHONE WHEN WRITING

**REVISE AT LEAST TEO DRAFTS ( sleep on it; re-edit the next day.In the morning you awake magically sharp-eyed. The acrid observation that you judges edgy at bedtime, by morning you realize makes you sound vicious and unstable)

**READ YOUR TEXT OUT LOUD 

**DEFINE WITH PRECISION THE AUDIENCE FOR WHOM YOU ARE WRITING.

**TAIK YOUR READER INTO IT.

Grant-writing is a sub-genre whose sole purpose is to persuade--in this case, convincing an awarding body that your art project deserves support. (PERSUASIVE)

structures:

*the what is it/what does it mean/so what? trio of questions addressed when looking  at artworks

*a basic essay outline for academic and multi-artist texts

*the inverted-triangle news format (big opener;tapering down with details of who/what/when/where/why; ending with a 'sting' )

*identifying a single key idea or principle to lead your writing through an artwork,project,or artist,which can even be no-frills chronological order.

ACADEMIC ESSAY

begin with a general area of interest( a gripping passion that has so ferociously seized your mind, you cannot sleep.)

Your sources must vary, and your bibliography demonstrate some effort and originality.

Be smart with GOOGLE, one intelligent search leads to the next,but use only trustworthy institutional sources.

You may not plagiarize existing material. Only consult the best-quality biblographies to begin compiling your own first-draft reading list.

Read three or four essential texts on the subject; take notes. Summarize each article or chapter in a few sentences. You need to collect evidence to substantiate your ideas later on (including quotes from artists,critics,and key figures; artworks; exhibitions; market data; historical facts)

a quota is evidence only of one person's viewpoint; it may be well-informed, but is not an incontrovertible truth.

jot down any good vocabulary that you come across while reading, listing useful terms pr phrases near the section where they might fit.

The job is not to find evidence to support a predetermined conclusion but to investigate an unknown. (do not anticipate the answer before you start,determined to prove an idea in your essay.)

Avoid questions: leading; prophesying; unqualified assumption; too broad; impossible to research; out-of-date;  (why you chose your principle artists,artworks,or case studies as representative,able to answer your research question meaningfully.)

TIME (research,first draft,*polishing*) not underestimate

STRUCTURE  (PICTURE)

EXPLAINING TEXTS

***headline;

the lead;

who/what/where/when/how;

wind down and end with a sting ***

Avoid platitudes, or writing self-evident commentary off the top of your head.

Ensure accuracy.

Identify one main theme or angle through which to examine the art (It may be: materials,process,symbolism,political content,the artist's archive ,biography, a controversy, technique )

Be specific, stay focused, make every word count. keep sentence crisp and to the point.

* write about a long career 

hit the library hard. Plan to read about 10 or 20 times as much copy on the artist as you are asked to produce.

Convey the artist's stature within art history, Get to the crux of what makes the artist important.,then back it up with choice examples.

*moving-image art

Again,discover a guiding idea that runs through the art,then back it up with a couple of succinctly described examples.

turning each performance piece into a one-line tale to get across her main theme,encapsulate the thrust of the action,then explain why it might matter.

*a high-detailed artwork

concise description is further achieved through wonderful picture-forming adj and active v.

*open-ended artwork

give reader a good general impression of this artwork. hint at a variety of sources and methods.

*multi-part project

wisely choose to address some principal elements.organize information chronologically, working from a general theme to the specific details of each intervention. Do not attempt to survey this artist's entire,varied career or attempted a potted history of  the art crossover, but follows one well-ientified theme,chronology,and logical order to describe succinctly this complex artwork.

*new media art

explaining exactly what they are looking at.

*a press release

structure

A one-line header,or short paragraph,with the main announcement

information about the immediate event or exhibition

a pertinent (jargonless) quote 

essential background on the artist

a short final paragraph with the fine print

send a directly relevant, good-quality picture

Be sure always to include any really basic background info: materials,process,perhaps how the artist arrived at this idea.

 For mainstream press interest ,you will need a newsworthy, eye-catching ,general-audience hook.

There is no law stating you must produce a single,one-size-fits-all press back.Consider tailoring the content and quantity of press materials to suit the needs of your target media.

Make your news super-easy to insert,as is. No hyperbolic praise seemingly written for and by the artist's mother; no artspeak lunacy; no missing information. No impenetrable prose ,but publishable news.

*an auction catalogue entry

ESTABLISH WORTH.

straight,research-based,art-historical explanation 

how and when the works was made,exhibited,and received 

its place within art history,the broader historical context,and the artist's own life and career. 

economic,critical,symbolic values.

Always introduce one strong idea of your own into your review.

A good idea is risky; take a risk.